javajanie

Vox Hunt: Black Friday

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:17:53 -0500

Show us how you're spending the day after Thanksgiving.

Moulin Rouge! (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

So far it has included a ridiculous amount of leftovers, Moulin Rouge, and my sister and I bursting into spontaneous song (My Favorite Things from Sound of Music).

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Does This Make Me Old?

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 19:37:13 -0400

My mom turned 60 this week. Funny how 60 just doesn't sound as old as it used to sound to me. Grey hair doesn't seem so bad either. Good thing since I found my first one a couple of months ago. I kinda like it. Who knew I wouldn't mind getting older?

That isn't what I was here to blog about. I was actually going to post pictures of my mom's birthday party from yesterday. I started to do it earlier, then Hannah called and I got a little sidetracked. Although, I think the braindumping I did while I was on the phone with her did me good. I feel all ready to blog and take on the world.

So yeah, pictures. First we have the birthday girl opening her gift while my dad looks on....

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My mom just bought a new(er) car to replace the one she totalled in a lovely accident with a state trooper (long story). She was upset that her new car didn't have a cassette player. We all pitched in a bought her an adapter so she can play her cassette tapes. She's silly.

This was just after she blew out her candles. Well, my adorable blonde nephew, Noah, blew several out from way up in his daddy's arms. Grammie blew out what was left....

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This is Marlen's youngest, same kid that blew out the candles....

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This is her youngest daughter...

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Nicole's teenagers fighting it out. Kay definitely had the upper hand...

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I made a lemon pound cake for my mom. Here I am getting ready to make Steve try some. It was surprisingly good....

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Some pictures of the grandkids with my mom's (formerly my) beloved dog, Harrison...

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This is Nicole's youngest, but the thing I love most about this picture is Kare Bear in the background about to lick her ice cream while trying to find a place to sit....

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I think they could've fit a few more people in the chair, don't you?

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My mom and her older brother...

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Steve, just because I think he's cute...

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Sophia, looking all serious...

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Alex modeling some really big shoes while standing with me...

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Ashley and my cousin's daughter...

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It was a good time. Lots of food, grilled salmon, burgers, hot dogs, loads of doritos, broccoli salad, deviled eggs, ice cream (seriously, can you have a bad time if there is ice cream?). The real blessing is just being able to have big ol' family get togethers like this. After years of being apart from my sisters, I'm thankful to have times like this with them and their families.

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Weekend Recap

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:35:38 -0400

The last of the guests have left. Steve is off spending some father/son time with Alex. Ashley and I are vegetating in front of the tv waiting for Victoria, Sophia, and Josiah to get home from visiting their father and stepmother in North Carolina for the weekend. I missed them, but I am sure they had an awesome time.

We had an awesome time this weekend here at the Steve and Janie abode. It all started Saturday when Nicole, Rob and Tammy arrived. We discussed whether Tammy ever had a mullet. Nicole decided Steve and I needed a "Hollywood" couple name, you know, like Brangelina or Bennifer. She wants you all to vote on whether it should be "Janeve" or "Stanie". Rob, Nicole and Tammy all thought it should be the later. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time.

Oooh avocado

We made a lot of guacamole. We ate a lot of guacamole too. Seriously, can you ever eat too much guac?

Sunday, we got up early and headed off to church. After church, we broke out the rest of the homemade pizza I had made the night before and waited for Marlen, Rick, my parents, and Steve's brothers to show up. Mr. Bill did the grilling for us.

Mr bill manning the grill

I don't think we should allow him to do it anymore....

Mr bill burned the burgers

The boys spent most of the day playing "Guitar Hero" and making homemade weapons...

Guitar hero

Alex and his homemade ax

Guitar heroes

The adults did our usual stuff, ate, talked and played a little poker...

Rick chocolate mint torte

Sisters

Tammy eating deviled eggs

Nicole and rob

Janeve or Stanie?

Uncle robby

Of course, the kids also enjoyed the pool for one of the last times of the season....

Take a picture of my splash

Cannonball

Kari soaking her splinter

Ashley jumping

Ashley hiding

And last but not least, one of the cutest little boys ever...

Wanna play polly pockets

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The Labor Day Festivities Have Begun!

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:32:54 -0400

Nicole, Rob and Tammy have arrived with children in tow for our annual Labor Day festivities. Homemade pizza, guacamole, chocolate chip walnut cookies, and brownies have been consumed in large quantities, along with old Robin Eggs.

Leftover from easter

It's amazing what you find when you clean out your cabinets for the first time since Spring.

Robin eggs

Since we didn't see each other at Easter, we had to take the opportunity to paint our lips with the robin eggs.

Huh

Seriously, the stuff you find on the internet is just amazing! Steve is completely perplexed.

Enough with the pictures already

Would you just leave us alone and let us enjoy the homemade guacamole?

So far, we have discussed whether the candy is Whoppers or Whoopers. (The girls say Whoppers, the guys say Whoopers. We win. They are outnumbered.) We have also decided that Tammy had a Tam-mullet back in 2000. We have photographic evidence.

A little mullet

Here Nicole is saying Tammy had just a little mullet. Rob looks quite skeptical. Tomorrow, the rest of the family will be joining us, so more pictures to come.

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Happy Happy Birthday!

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 08:12:54 -0400

Today is my sister, Marlen's birthday*. I'll be nice and not tell you how old she is. I will say she is older than me! Anyway, go wish her a Happy Birthday!

*Mom didn't even have to call me and remind me!

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It's almost Ugly Outfit Friday?

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:31:58 -0400

Pajamas

Are you ready?

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An overdose of Scrubs and Guac

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:27:50 -0400

Ok, so I was completely stuffed after dinner and my dessert, but then Nicole and Rob requested I whip up some more of my famous guacamole. Since they are like my guests and all, I had to make some more. Then of course, I had to taste it for quality control purposes and all. Let me just say, once again I totally rocked the guac again. I really do make some good guacamole. It's my version of a guac I had in a little Mexican restaurant right off Times Square in NYC.

Anyway, I ate too much. So, to get them back for making me eat so much my tummy hurts, I got them hooked on Scrubs. The first thing Rob said after the first episode was the exact thing Steve said, "One more?". Four episodes later we are finally making ourselves stop and go to bed. They are going to take it with them to finish watching and mail it back for us. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them the 2nd time around. Good show.

I know, it's ridiculous, but I'm so happy that I have a bunch of Scrubs to catch up on this summer with Steve. We need something to do during this TV dry spell that is called Summer. It's like the TV executives expect us to go outside and do things during the warm months. Seriously.

I'm thinking instead of driving up north to Canada for our kid-free vacation this year, we'll just stay home and eat guacamole and watch Scrubs. Sounds like a plan to me.

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Too much good food and other random thoughts

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 22:11:11 -0400

Usually when Steve goes out of town on business, the kids and I eat cheap easy meals. Things that I wouldn't make him eat. I like to cook my man a nice homecooked meal. The kids, well, I'll give 'em any crap out of a can. Ok, not really, the things we eat are things we all enjoy, but that Steve wouldn't exactly consider a decent meal after spending a long day at work. We eat things like salisbury steaks from the frozen food section, Chef Boyardee ravioli (I love that stuff), chicken pattie sandwiches, and oodles of noodles.

With Nicole and her family visiting with us, we've been making some good food. It is their vacation after all. I'm thinking they don't want to spend it eating the kind of junk we would normally eat while Steve is out of town. Sunday, it was extreme nachos and fried ice cream. Monday morning, delicious french toast and in the evening, hamburgers, italian sausage, and vegetable kabobs on the grill. Today, homemade pizza (4 kinds, cheese, 3 meat, bacon and onion, and grilled veggie*), spice cookies with cream cheese frosting and brownies topped with ice cream. Yeah, we really know how to eat around these parts.

It's just been kinda quiet. Nothing much to write about. Tomorrow is the last day of school. I have an awards ceremony for Sophia. She got all As and Bs this quarter after really struggling with the harder work in 4th grade. I've spent way too much time stressing over grades with the older kids this year. Every day, forcing them to read, do homework and other things that I just did because I knew I needed to. Getting anything below a B freaked me out when I was in school. These kids just don't seem to care sometimes. It's a wonder I don't have grey hair after the year we've had. Luckily, Ashley and Josiah didn't give me any grief as far as grades this year. I am really looking forward to the summer, no homework, book reports, or science fair projects. Sure I might hear some whining over keeping their rooms clean or picking up their clothes off the bathroom floor, but I can handle that. I love being a mom, but the stress of school just seems to be getting worse as they get older. It really makes you appreciate summer vacation, that's for sure.

I apologize for the lack of humor or wit in my post. I think Steve took it all with him on his business trip. So, go over and read his blog!

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Weekend Update with Tina Fey, I mean Janie insert last name here

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 23:34:54 -0400

It's been a wild and crazy weekend. We had a birthday party on Friday complete with ugly outfits. Someone said they liked my skirt. My sister in law told me I looked cute. I think Steve must have slipped her a twenty on the side. Rob, Gary, and my mother in law were all there to witness me in my all my UOF glory. I think I deserve a "get out of UOF free" card for this coming Friday.

The kids ended up having a water fight at the party and were completely soaked. Little did they know, we were going to Target afterward. So Steve and I, in our ugly outfits, and 5 drenched kids graced the aisles of our local Target. Not finding what we wanted, we then headed over to Wal-Mart.

Saturday, we got up and went to breakfast in honor of Ashley's 9th birthday. Then Steve dropped me and Josiah off at the house. I had a cake to bake and some cleaning to do before Nicole and her crew showed up. They are staying with us til Wednesday. Later in the evening, we headed out for dinner in DC. So nice having older kids to watch the younger ones so we can get some grown up time.

Sunday, we dragged ourselves out of bed for church. Amazing that I can manage to get to my Sunday School class on time when it's me and 6 kids, but not when Steve is tagging along. Yes, my husband is notorious for being late. (Is that proper english? That doesn't sound right.)

After church, we came back here and Nicole made us some killer nachos. Steve packed his bags and left me. Even made me drive him to the airport. Ok, so really, he has a business trip this week. Second one this month, these are getting old already. Then he has another next week. I really miss him this time. Strangely, I not only love my husband but I like him and would even dare to say, enjoy being around him. I know, I'm crazy like that.

So I took him to the airport, then drove back home blaring "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap. I love that song. I hated it the first time I heard it, but the lyrics are so well written. Once I arrived back home, Nicole, Victoria and I went to the store where Victoria ended up with a box on her head and I bought a huge jar of Nutella. We party hard around these parts.

We spent the rest of the night relaxing on the deck. I made some homemade guacamole, as per Nicole's request. I must say, I do make some awesome guac. We also ended our Mexican themed night with Faux Fried Ice Cream. I wasn't one bit hungry, but had to have some anyway, because it's vacation. Well, not my vacation, but Nicole's, so I had to eat it.

Now, I am going to crawl into bed. I'm going on only 5 hours sleep from last night and I am really starting to feel it now. Tomorrow, we are going into DC to the Smithsonian museums and some other sightseeing. I'm sure I'll end up boring you all with some moblogging pictures. I can't help it, I'm addicted.

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A Birthday and a Night on the Town

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:04:16 -0400

Yesterday was Ashley's 9th birthday. I can't believe she was only 5 when I met Steve now. I look back at the pictures and she looks so little and tiny. She's really growing up.

June 9

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Later in the evening, Steve and I took Rob and Nicole to one of our favorite restaurants in Chinatown. Afterwards, we walked around DC just enjoying the cool night air. Our nation's capital is just so beautiful at night.

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Nicole and I with some fish.

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It was a great night. Thanks to Nicole and Rob, we even stuck to our budget!

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javajanie

Vox Hunt: Black Friday

Does This Make Me Old?

Weekend Recap

The Labor Day Festivities Have Begun!

Happy Happy Birthday!

It's almost Ugly Outfit Friday?

An overdose of Scrubs and Guac

Too much good food and other random thoughts

Weekend Update with Tina Fey, I mean Janie *insert last name here*

A Birthday and a Night on the Town

Weekend Update with Tina Fey, I mean Janie insert last name here